76
This division is contrary to the law of Christ and only leads to further evils.
Today authority is a sweet affair to the king opulent with fat and licentiaus in living. . . to whom the word "peasant" is repugnant. . . . But woe unto him when he shall meet the words of God face to face! Then his violences shall be met with great discomforts to his well-being, and he shall cry blind, "Alas! Woe is me! Why has my mother ever begotten me into this world!88
To divide Christendom into classes is tantamount dividing the body of Christ.89
Naturally, this order is agreeable to the first two classes who loaf, gorge and dissipate themselves. And the burden for this living is shoved onto the shoulders of the third class which has to pay in suffering for the pleasures of the other two guzzlers and there are so many of them!90
There are many eloquent passages that show that Chelc̄icky̍ was far ahead of his time with his strong social consciousness:
And if you who are heavy and round with fat object saying, "Our fathers have bought these people and those manors for our inheritance," then indeed, they made an evil business and an expensive bargain! For who has the right to buy people, to enslave them and to treat them with indignities as if they were cattle? . . . You prefer dogs to people whom you cuss, despise, beat, from whom you extort taxes, and for whom you forge fetters. While at the same time you will say to your dog, "Setter, come here and lie down on the pillow!" – Those people were God's before you bought them!91
